Spirit Airlines is set to furlough 1,800 flight attendants, according to a memo sent to staff from John Bendoraitis, Spirit’s chief operating officer, on Monday.
“As we work to return Spirit to profitability, we face difficult decisions about our network, our fleet, and ultimately our workforce,” the memo said, per The Wall Street Journal. “We need to shift our focus to a complete rightsizing of the airline, which means volume-based adjustments to our Flight Attendant group, and across our teams. This is hard news, and we understand it affects not only you and your peers but also your families.”
Last week, Spirit CEO Dave Davis warned staff that job cuts were imminent after the company filed its second bankruptcy in less than a year in late August. The cuts announced on Monday will impact one-third of the company’s total cabin crew members.
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Travelers at a Spirit Airlines bag drop at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The current, voluntary furloughs can be selected for six or 12 months, and those who choose the leave will keep medical benefits while out, according to a note sent by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) union to its members and seen by CNBC.
Bendoraitis said that about 800 flight attendants are already on leave, but there is a “limit to how many people can volunteer.” Hundreds of pilots have already been furloughed.
Involuntary furloughs will begin on Dec. 1, the union said.
Earlier this month, Spirit announced that it was ending service to a dozen cities in October, and rival airlines are already swooping in. Frontier Airlines, for example, which has a 35% overlap with Spirit on routes, per CNBC, said it would be adding 20 new routes.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business, it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, in a press release at the time.